Labour MP for the Llanelli constituency

Calling for more jobs for young people

Nia Griffith MP has called on the Government to do more to create job opportunities for young people. Speaking up at treasury questions in parliament, the Llanelli MP asked the Chancellor George Osborne:

“Given the great success of the Labour Welsh Government’s Jobs Growth Wales scheme, which is on target to help 16,000 young people into sustainable jobs, mostly in the private sector, will the Chancellor now commit to a similar UK-wide scheme funded by a repeat of Labour’s tax on bankers’ bonuses?”

The Llanelli MP went on to explain, “The UK is now one of the only countries in Europe which does not have some form of a jobs’ guarantee for young people. The Welsh Government is showing the way, with its Jobs Growth Wales scheme – a scheme which subsidises the employer taking on a young person for the first six months – but the employers, mostly in the private sector, are selected because of the likelihood that they will be able to expand and take on the young person permanently. This has resulted in a very high staying on rate, with young people taking up a whole range of jobs. We now need the UK government to implement a similar scheme UK wide to increase the number of opportunities available to our young people. They could do this by repeating Labour’s tax on the bankers’ bonuses. Young people should not be paying the price for the economic crash which was caused by the bankers.”